Joint Wildland Fire Management Plan Out for Public Review

Superintendent Terry DiMattio announced the release of the Naval Base Point Loma and Cabrillo National Monument Joint Wildland Fire Management Plan (JWFMP) and Environmental Assessment (EA) for a 30-day public review and comment period. The purpose of the JWFMP is to protect personnel, facilities, and natural and cultural resources from the impacts of wildland fire; prioritize assets to be protected in the event of fire; ensure the perpetuation of native terrestrial habitats, fire adapted plant communities and rare species; and minimize the total cost of fire pre-suppression and suppression on lands owned by the United States Navy and National Park Service (NPS) on Point Loma.

The JWFMP, developed over the last few years by the NPS and Navy, is the first for Point Loma, and will guide wildland fire management at Cabrillo National Monument and Naval Base Point Loma for the next five years. As the largest land owners within the Federal reservation on Point Loma, the NPS and Navy have vegetation that could burn in a wildfire and are, therefore, required under Federal wildland fire policy to prepare a fire management plan for addressing that possibility.

Said DiMattio, âThe proposed approach for the JWFMP is straightforward: (1) Suppress all wildland fires as soon as possible regardless of whether they were caused by humans or nature; (2) Protect structures through the use of fire-safe building materials and the creation of survivable space around each building that cannot afford to be lost; (3) Create fuel modification zones along public roads by removing exotic species and trimming native species to reduce the likelihood of accidental ignitions; and (4) Conduct four, small scale (30m x 30m) research burns at Cabrillo NM to ascertain the effect of fire on maritime succulent scrub and southern maritime chaparral habitats after decades of not having been burned, identify plants that may have been lost due to the lack of fire, and evaluate the options for achieving ecological goals and managing native species.â

Printed copies of the 400-page JWFMP have been placed in the Point Loma/Hervey and Ocean Beach branch public libraries and in the main public library downtown. A copy of the JWFMP, which includes the EA as Appendix J, can be viewed, downloaded, and printed from this website; click on âManagement Docsâ in the right-hand navigation column.

Written comments may be submitted to Superintendent, Cabrillo National Monument, 1800 Cabrillo Memorial Dr., San Diego, CA 92106-3601. The deadline to submit comments is Friday, August 25, 2006, and all comments should be postmarked by that date. Comments may also be submitted on the parkâs website by clicking on âContact Us.â

A public meeting to present the JWFMP and EA will be held on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 at 6:00 PM at the Point Loma/Hervey Branch Public Library, located at 3701 Voltaire Street, San Diego, CA 92106. For directions, call the library at (619) 531-1539.